The Milk Miracle

The Mystery

The Milk Miracle was a phenomenon that began on September 21, 1995. It was considered a miracle by many across the world at the time - and still is. On that date a worshipper made an offering of milk to a statue of Ganesha, at a temple in New Delhi. When a spoonful of milk from the bowl was held up to the trunk of the statue, the liquid was seen to disappear, apparently taken in by the idol. Word of the event spread quickly, and by mid-morning it was found that statues in temples all over North India were taking in milk.
By noon the news had spread beyond India, and temples in Britain, Canada, Dubai and Nepal among other countries had successfully replicated the phenomenon, and the Vishwa Hindu Patishad (an Indian Hindu organisation) had announced that a Miracle was occurring.
The apparent miracle had a significant effect on the areas around major temples; vehicle and pedestrian traffic in New Delhi was dense enough to create a congestion lasting until late in the evening. Many stores in areas with significant Hindu communities saw a massive jump in sales of milk, with one Gateway store in England selling over 25,000 pints of milk. Many minor temples struggled to deal with the vast increase in numbers, and queues spilled out into the streets, reaching distances of over a mile.



The Miracle allegedly occurred again on 20-21 August 2006 in almost exactly the same fashion, although initial reports seem to indicate that it occurred only with statues of Ganesh, Shiva, and Durga. The first reported occurrence was on the evening of the 20th in the city of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, from where it quickly spread throughout India


Explanations Offered

As is usual a lot of people were sceptical about this phenomenon being a miracle.Infact some came foreward with explanations and even recreated the phenomenon.The most widely accepted theory is "the Capillary Effect"

Seeking to explain the phenomenon, scientists from India's Ministry of Science and Technology travelled to a temple in New Delhi and made an offering of milk containing a food colouring. As the level of liquid in the spoon dropped, the scientists theorized that after the milk disappeared from the spoon, it coated the statue beneath where the spoon was placed. With this result, the scientists offered capillary action as an explanation; the surface tension of the milk was pulling the liquid up and out of the spoon, before gravity caused it to run down the front of the statue. They were able to recreate it too.
Another theory that was brought forward was that it was a bout of mass hysteria and/or hallucination among the people that brought about this "miracle", thought this was, quite understandably, ignored as a "desperate attempt".

CREDIBILITY

Though this theory gives a perfectly logical explanation to the phenonenon, it has a few glaring flaws.
If it was just the milk running down the front, then the floors of the temple should have been flooded considering the number of devotees who fed milk to the statues.
Suzanne Goldenberg, a Delhi-based journalist, reported that: "Inside the darkened shrine, people held stainless steel cups and clay pots to the central figure of the five-headed Shiva, the destroyer of evil, and his snake companion, and watched the milk levels ebb. Although some devotees force-fed the idol enthusiastically, the floor was fairly dry."
It also fails to explain how this phenomenon occured all over the world at the same time and how it lasted only for two days.

As for the second theory one need only use his common sense to disprove it.If that is not enough then we are forced to conclude that the hundreds of cameras that captured videos and photographs of this event were also Hallucinating


CONCLUSION

With the available information we are unable to form a solid conclusion.Until somebody comes up wit yet another plausible explanation "the Milk Miracle" shall remain, as the name suggests, a Miracle.